Finishing my basement and I was curious what is the best way to attach the framing to the concrete floor? Is it better to bolt them to the floor or use one those nailing guns that utlizes the blank cartridges? 11x24 room completely encased in a block wall construction.

Thanks

Just Bill

03-12-2009 07:35 AM

Bolts are a lot of work. Powder actuated nailers are quick and sure. And tapcons(concrete screws) work well. Tapcons require a specific sized drill bit and work best with a hammer drill. Any wood touching concrete should be pressure treated, and the fastener must be stainless steel or coated to reduce corrosion due to the chemicals.

The nailer is faster, but drilling a few tapcons for that size of a room wouldn't be bad either.

Bronx

03-13-2009 08:55 AM

SS Tapcons

A stainless steel tapcon screw 1/4 x 2 3/4 would do just fine. It is made of a 410 stainless steel and has a climashield coating so that rusting will not be a concern. Drill a hole through the wood into the concrete using a 3/16 x 4" masonry carbide drill bit and a hammer drill. You will get the tapcon into the concrete 1 1/4 " which over the mininum embedment and should have no problem holding the wall in place.

whirly

03-13-2009 02:19 PM

I prefer the Tapcon method. Most boxes of Tapcons from the big box stores come with the Drill Bit.
I like this method because the bottom plate is easily removed if you decide to change the location of a wall.

Phuture

03-16-2009 11:21 PM

Just be careful with either method. if drillig you have to be careful not to drill all the way through your concrete slab. some older homes onl have a 4" slab. drill through it and you could have ground water come in. when nailing, it's possible for the nails to ricochet on you. but as long as your careful either way is cool.

fixrite

03-17-2009 12:04 PM

you might want to consider how you are going to vapor barrier and insulate this as well. Some install a one way barrier on the concrete side of new studs with it wrapped around top and bottom plate.

cheers

eyeQ

03-21-2009 09:48 PM

I used tapcon concrete screws for my steel stud framing, about 80 LF in all, using a hammer drill to drill, and then a hex head bit to set the actual tapcon itself. It really didn't take too long (prob 3 min total per screw, around 1 screw/2 LF), and buying a hammer drill pays off more than one of those guns, since you can use it for myriad uses afterwards.

yummy mummy

03-21-2009 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeQ
(Post 248044)

I used tapcon concrete screws for my steel stud framing, about 80 LF in all, using a hammer drill to drill, and then a hex head bit to set the actual tapcon itself. It really didn't take too long (prob 3 min total per screw, around 1 screw/2 LF), and buying a hammer drill pays off more than one of those guns, since you can use it for myriad uses afterwards.

I agree, a hammer drill is very useful, and I also used tapcons for attaching pressure treated wood to concrete.